My darling Dani is two years old today. And I'm happy to report that we broke tradition and spent this birthday at home rather than at the hospital, thankfully with a bit less drama than last year.

After dinner, we presented her with a cupcake, complete with two burning candles. To put it mildly, she was not pleased about the open flames blocking the path to her sugar fix. She shot me a look which I quickly interpreted to mean, "My birthday would be a whole lot happier if you'd quit singing about it and get that blasted fire away from my frosting!"

And it wouldn't be a real two-year-old birthday celebration without a demonstration of toddler property law. As you'll see in the clip above, she couldn't contain her paranoia that someone was going to take her milk. Lucky for her, she was finally able to move beyond the crippling fear of losing her dairy drink, for at least long enough to indulge in a bit of dessert.

And while I've been known to give Dani a bad rap about the rough start we had in year one (on account of her being an excellent screamer and a poor sleeper), I have to go on record that in year two she has transcended from difficult to delightful, and from inconsolable to adorable. It's amazing her pinky hasn't run out of room, what, with both her mom and dad wrapped around it!